SPEAKING TO US FROM THEIR MAGNIFICENT TUDOR ESTATE VISCOUNT AND VISCOUNTESS HINCHINGBROOKE ON THEIR ‘FAMILY COCOON’, HELPING THE COMMUNITY AND KEEPING THE SPIRIT OF MAPPERTON ALIVE DURING LOCKDOWN

‘It’s spring, so the gardens are beginning to look their best… While that’s wonderful for us, it’s sad that other people can’t enjoy it’ Luke

Nestled in a Dorset valley surrounded by 2,000 acres of rolling hills and woodland is Mapperton House, a stately pile usually filled with bustling crowds of visitors.

Today it stands quiet and practically empty, its only inhabitants Luke and Julie Montagu, aka Viscount and Viscountess Hinchingbrooke, their four children and their extended family, who are living at the family seat during lockdown.

“It’s looking ravishing,” says Luke of the magnificent Tudor property, once voted the finest manor house in England and recently used as a location for the upcoming Netflix adaptation of Rebecca , starring Lily James.

“It’s spring, so the wisteria and clematis are coming out and the gardens are beginning to look their best. You can’t hear planes, but we can hear the wildlife and birdlife, which